Six on Saturday – 14/11/2026

Categories six on saturday35 Comments on Six on Saturday – 14/11/2026

It fair takes my breath away how fast these posts come round. What on earth have I done since the last one? I’m back on the Camellia trail, visiting the National collection, updating records, sorting photos, processing video. Indoors, sat at a computer, not out in the garden where it’s cold. We had our first real frost last night; the Dahlias and Cannas are black, Plectranthus and Impatiens are toast. I think all my heaters came on as intended so everything that had been moved inside was protected. Given the forecast, I took a few pictures earlier in the week, though today was a lovey day so I probably needn’t have bothered.

All the same, the six on Saturday challenge is getting harder, so if you’re up for it, post pictures of six things in your garden and put a link in my comments below and that’s it, you’re part of the gang. There’s a fuller explanation here.

One.
Frost. Lets get it done, the required frosty picture. Stachys macrantha ‘Superba Frostii’. Was it really that colour? Probably not, more pink, but that’s missing the point.

Two.
Acer ‘Orange Dream’ is making a bit of an effort at producing some autumn colour. New England it ain’t, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’ve been pushing the canopy on this up so it doesn’t block my eyeline, perhaps if I’d delayed the haircut I gave it a few weeks back I’d have had a better display.

Three.
I think I may have already put in Clematis cirrhosa ‘Wisley Cream’ a few weeks back but it is putting on quite a show so I’m giving it another go. The trellis it is on is collapsing under it so something drastic has to happen at some point.

Four.
Hydrangea macrophylla ‘You and Me Together’ usually flowers a respectable blue with purplish undertones. This year it was pushing against more heat than it could cope with and the flowers were a washed out and somewhat shrivelled pinky purple from the start. I just left them there and now they really don’t look too bad. The flower heads are now constantly moist, which has intensified their colour, and everything around has come down to their level of floral intensity. The flower heads are in remarkably good condition considering they were produced in June/July and it’s now November.

Five.
Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’ doesn’t have the resilience of some of the other forms of Hakone grass I have, the best of which will stay in good condition until the end of February. It’s looking pretty good now though, so deserves an SoS mention.

Six.
I moved a fair number of borderline plants into my various glasshouses earlier in the week, amongst them a number of Sue’s succulents that went into her glasshouse. These two are Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’ and Mangave ‘Lavender Lady’. I cleaned them up, removing all the hibernating snails hiding under the leaves, and moved them in. I took a picture of them in the glasshouse but not wanting to be pulled up by any electricians on here who might not approve of my heating arrangements, I shall leave that bit to your imagination. I shall now brush past the two plants all winter, being mauled by the Agave and breaking the leaves of the Mangave by the air movement of my passing.

As I mentioned at the top, I’ve been getting back into my support role for the National Collection of Camellias at Mount Edgcumbe in Cornwall, having effectively taken a year out. Not for the first time I have embarked on trying to build a set of videos about the collection, hoping that one day they will get them, or links to them, on their own website. When it comes to producing videos, I’m an old dog and I’m slow to pick up new tricks. The technology frequently trips me up and my shaky hands combined with the near constant wind up there means things move that shouldn’t. Audio defeated me this time around, though I think I have it mastered now. Anyhow, here’s a link to 14 minutes and 5 seconds of autumn flowering Camellias, with no soundtrack. https://youtu.be/7wIalH0s5Ww

Unknown's avatar

Published by Jim Stephens

Gardener, no-dig allotmenteer, camellia enthusiast. I love colour, it cheers me up. Retired nurseryman.

35 thoughts on “Six on Saturday – 14/11/2026”

  1. Jim you always have a lovely six, which almost goes without saying. I particularly love your Acer photo. It looks much like one growing in our front yard that was just a few inches tall when we came but that is quite tall now, and yes, blocking the view into another part of the yard. It has a weeping habit and the leaf looks just like yours. Your Hydrangeas are a lovely color now, too. I hope it has been another good and productive year in the garden for you! Here are my six photos of Camellias: https://woodlandgnome.com/2026/11/14/six-on-saturday-camellias-and-a-story/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  3. Acer ‘Orange Dream’ is gorgeous. I don’t see much autumn colour here – not many trees in West Penwith, though the local woodland is showing some gold – beech trees I think. And my hydrangeas got knocked for six in the storms a couple of weeks ago. You still have plenty going on in your garden.

    Like

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Camellias and a Story – Our Forest Garden

  6. The Acer and the Hakonechloa macra are my favorites. The Agave are very good also and remind me of some of the ones I appreciated in San Diego. They are enormous after growing unchecked for may year. The non gardener is grumbling about omelettes, so I had better finish up here! Be back later to see everyone else’s posts. Here is a post centered almost entirely indoors:

    https://wisconsingarden.wordpress.com/2026/11/14/november-14-2026-six-on-saturday/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Pingback: November 14, 2026 Six on Saturday – Gardening in the Prairie
  9. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Rime and Reason | Rambling in the Garden
  12. Pingback: Six On Saturday: Fire And Ice – Tish Farrell

  13. Love the colours of the Acer and the grass. For some reason your post did not appear on my Reader this morning so I had to search for it. Very odd.

    Like

    Reply
  14. Pingback: Six on Saturday: 14 November 2026 – My Tiny Welsh Garden
  16. Pingback: Six on Saturday: Frosty – Words and Herbs
  18. Pingback: Six On Saturday: First frosts | n20gardener

  21. I do like that Wisley cream – I thinking I must be able to fit one in somewhere. The garden lacks a nice climber for this back end of the year. The agave and mangave also look great. I have space in the summer for something like that, but I’m not sure I have anywhere to store them. Maybe it is time for a bigger greenhouse… Here is what may well be my final 6 of the season https://potsandplots.blog/2026/11/14/sixonsaturday-14-11-2026/

    Like

    Reply

    1. The Aussie raised Paradise series camellias have been outstanding this year. I don’t know how many are available now but if we are going to get summers like we’ve just had they are going to outperform many of the currently widely grown cultivars.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. I’ve a Mangave ‘Pineapple Express’ with a 1.9m flower spike still going up that I hope will survive to go in a six at some point. I’m uncertain about leaving them out but it’s just too heavy to get in now.

      Like

      Reply
  25. Pingback: Six on Saturday – Gardening Between Showers – Piglet in Portugal
  27. Pingback: Six on Saturday: {14/11/26} – Cath's Camera

    1. Having frequently seen pictures of ‘Freckles’ in full flower and with my ‘Wisley Cream’ very stingy with its flowers until this year, I have been looking at the greener grass from the other side of the fence. It seems it was collected, presumably growing wild, in southern Europe, so probably needs a summer like the one we’ve just had to perform as it should. It suckers; I may try to move a bit somewhere I’m not looking at it against the sky, which doesn’t do it justice.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply